Friday, 24 December 2010

Pima Air & Space Museum

Pima Air & Space Museum is not far from where we’re staying and it is huge. We had planned a one day trip but there is so much to see we got information overload and had to return the next day.

This cute little plane was used in one of the James Bond movies, but I’ve forgotten which one.The museum is staffed by volunteers most of whom are retired USAF or military and quite a few of the those we spoke to had taken part in conflicts from WWII to the present.

This helicopter is used by the US Forest Service to help fight forest fires.

We took the guided tour around the site, our guide was very knowledgeable about all the planes, so much so that we were got overload!

This is one of the stealth planes, there is no official information as to the height these planes fly at but the volunteers did say that it was known to have reached heights of 80,000 ft. That’s high!

It is thought that John F Kennedy may have flown in this plane during the 1960’s.

In the afternoon we took a guided tour to Davies Monathan Air Force Base that took us through what is unofficially called the ‘boneyard’. As Davies Monathan is an operational base we had to provide proof of identity before we boarded the coach at the musuem. Once inside the base the coach drove slowly past each section while the guide relayed us with information. No-one was allowed to leave the coach until we returned to the museum.

The windows, engines and navigational equipment are all covered and protected against the dust and heat of the desert.

The ‘boneyard’ is a huge area where countless planes are stored, there is also another area full of old planes that have been cannibalised for parts.

I’m not sure this one is ever going to fly very far again!

The tour took just over an hour and was very informative. We had a great time and I'm sure we'll revisit the museum in the future.